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Stefan Fatsis

  (3:01 PM)

Hey everyone. Great to be here. Looking forward to answering your questions about my book, the Broncos and the NFL. Let's do it.

Bill M (Denver, CO)

Great book Stefan. Even under daily deadline pressure what can local beat reporters can do to cultivate more productive relationships with the teams they cover, without being total homers or sellouts? I wish the buffoons calling themselves the Denver Broncos press corps were able to produce even half the insights you were able to get from the likes of Jake Plummer and Mike Shanahan.

Stefan Fatsis

  (3:16 PM)

Thanks, Bill. Daily reporters are in an enenviable position. Their on-site access is severely restricted, they have a hard time being perceived as knowledgeable about the game and, most of all, there's a built-in institutional distrist. As one Bronco said to me, "We're conditioned not to accept you." Overcoming that is hard. I was able to because the Broncos let me wear a uniform, because the players knew that what they were telling me wouldn't be published for a couple of years and, I like to think, because they got to know me and saw I was a decent guy who sincerely wanted to understand their world.Is that impossible for reporters to do. no. But it does require having conversations with athletes in which the tape recorder is turned off and the notepad tucked away, so they can see you as a person, and vice versa. It requires getting tutorials from coaches about the game's complex minutia -- how offenses and defenses work, what to look for on the field, what happened on a particular play that the untrained eye might not see -- to permit smarter coverage. And it means getting away from the what-happened-today, what-might-happen-tomorrow, who's-up, who's-down appraoch to reporting. Not every reporter is willing to do those things, and not every media outlet is interested in letting them.

Ray (El Paso, TX)

Do you think some organizations and media outlets try to hide the truth behind what players have to do to play every week?

Stefan Fatsis

  (3:20 PM)

I think "the media" periodically do convey what players go through in order to play -- the treatment regimens, the injuries players carry onto the field, the medicines used to keep them going. I saw players disappear into the back of the trainer's room and emerge with prescription painkillers. (Vioxx was a player favorite even though it had been banned by the FDA.) But I don't think it's in the NFL's interest to talk about the unceasing pain and suffering players endure (everyone's hurt somehow pretty much all the time) or what it takes to go back out there week after week. The NFL is entertainment in the abstract. When fans start seeing it as something else -- a blood sport played with enormous personal consequences by actual people you wouldn't yell at if they were sitting in your living room -- the game starts to lose some of its entertainment value.

Scott (C '85)

Stefan, Nice excerpt in the PA Gazette. What insights into players did you gather that were similar to those say, in a Plimpton or Halberstam book, in terms of modern players vs. those 20+ years ago?

Stefan Fatsis

  (3:24 PM)

A classmate from Penn! The big similarity is the unquestioned love for playing the game. In Plimpton's 1966 book Paper Lion, to which I obviously owe an enormous debt, the depiction of the NFL is almost joyful -- a place full of laughs and hijinx and stories from larger-than-life figures -- heroes. We live in more cynical times in a world flooded with information about sports. They players I wrote about were conflicted about the NFL. Like their forefathers, they still love playing, love the competition, love Sundays. But they are far more thoughtful about the game and more skeptical about what they are asked to do -- about the nature of the sport and what it's inevitably doing to their bodies, but even more about the psychological realities of the business of the NFL: the unrelenting pressure from coaches and executives, a workplace culture of paranoia and insecurity.

John (Hingham. MA)

Stefan,Greta book. Congratulations on the effort. I think the Darrent Williams tragedy is a fascinating postscript on the work. Neither he nor Javon Walker seemed to spend much time with you during your stay. Was that a personal decision by them or simply a fact that it did not fit with the focus of the book?

Stefan Fatsis

  (3:28 PM)

Thanks, John. A reporting question! In neither case was their lack of character time in the book personal decisions on their part. (I actually wanted D-Will in there more, but the day I sat down to talk with a couple of his fellow d-backs, Domonique Foxworth and Nick Ferguson) he wasn't around.There were more than 90 players in that camp. I couldn't get to know everyone. Some players didn't want to be in the book much and blew off interview requests. Others didn't fit in so well. Javon was hurt and not terribly interested. The starting o-line, naturally, wouldn't play along (though they were to a man friendly). Other players -- including some I did interview at length -- just didn't fit the narrative.

fran (alabama)

Stefan, great book. Did the Broncos players make you sing your alma mater's song like all rookies have to?

Stefan Fatsis

  (3:30 PM)

One of them did indeed. After I'd been in the locker room for about five minutes. And I did indeed sing "The Red and the Blue" for him and whoever else was listening. Though I did find it's not, at least on the Broncos, the standard ritual that it once was (Plimpton spends seven pages on fight-song-singing). Instead, each rookie had to tell a joke during a team meeting. You'll have to read the book to see mine...

Will (Oregon)

How did you get the approval from the Broncos to participate in camp?

Stefan Fatsis

  (3:32 PM)

Simply put, I asked. The Broncos were about the 20th team I contacted. I started on the east, where I live, and worked west according to teams where I had some contacts with the owner or president (I covered the NFL for the Wall Street Journal for many years). Most teams said a quick no -- I'd be a distraction or wouldn't help them win the Super Bowl. But Broncos owner Pat Bowlen liked the idea and head coach Mike Shanahan consented -- much to my surprise, because Shanahan has a reputation as one of the biggest control freaks in the league. But he proved to be incredibly cooperative and welcomed the scrutiny of a writer. Much credit to Bowlen and Shanahan for understanding that the NFL is an entertainment business that can withstand a little scrutiny in the service of its fans.

Jonny (NY)

What was more crazy - being an NFL player in training camp or diving into the world of competitive Scrabble?

Stefan Fatsis

  (3:35 PM)

Crazy? I'd go with the NFL. Attempting to run out on the field with these remarkable athletes is, of course, absurd. But I did spend a year getting into shape and learning how to kick, because I wanted to see if it was possible to learn one task and see how much I could narrow the gap between the weekend jock and the fans.The main difference between the two books was that I was confident I could become an expert Scrabble player -- my brain was built for it -- but I had no expectations I could become an expert kicker. Playing was simply the best way to infiltrate the NFL. I knew if I could at least show I was credible, that I was trying, the players were more likely to trust me and open up to me.

Ulysses A Yates, Sparks, MD

I loved your book. I couldn't put it down and as soon as I finished reading it, my wife read it and loved it to. I have a son who is a kicker so it was very relevant.My son has worked with Coach Woodside for 2 years. I was glad to see that you appreciated him as much as the rest of us do.

Stefan Fatsis

  (3:38 PM)

Thanks for the nice words -- and for recognizing Paul Woodside. He was my kicking coach, and he is my hero. I called Paul out of the blue with this ridiculous idea of kicking for an NFL team to write a book. He never blanched. He made me believe I could kick 50-yarders, and did everything in his power to get me there. More important, he made me believe I belonged on the field -- not because I was as good as Jason Elam as a kicker, but because we all have skills that make us no different from one another. And he never had a bad word to say about my ability, despite massive evidence to the contrary. Everyone should have a coach like Paul at least once in his life.

Zeke (New York, NY)

I'm halfway through the book and can't put it down. Have you been in touch with any of the players or management since the book was written? What are they saying now that it's out? Anyone beefed?

Stefan Fatsis

  (3:41 PM)

Hi Zeke. Thanks. The players who have read the book have loved it -- it's been incredibly gratifying to hear from them that I got it, that I portrayed their world fairly and accurately and honestly. When I was in Denver last month during camp, Shanahan hadn't read it yet. But his ex-GM, Ted Sundquist, had, and one of him comments was revealing: that the players' comments about the game were revealing to him. It demonstrated, Sundquist was able to admit, that there's room for more openness, communication and honesty in the NFL workplace.

Dan Levy (Cherry Hill, NJ)

I saw several missed extra points in the college game this weekend. Most of these kids are on scholarship. Honestly, how hard is it to hit an extra point?

Stefan Fatsis

  (3:45 PM)

Hey Dan. Physically kicking an extra point isn't hard (unless the blocking totally breaks down). Most of those kids you saw have the leg to boot a football 60+ yards, some of them off of a hold. Having said that, kicking requires the precision of a golf swing, and there are, of course, other moving parts -- the timing, the snap, the hold. Anything can, and does, go wrong.But the psychological pressure is another thing altogether. I've never felt as much pressure as I did when called on to kick in front of the Broncos. I was making 30-yard field goals comfortably, but when I was summoned by Shanahan during practice, the goalposts started looking narrower and narrower. There's a reason only a few guys have very long careers as NFL kickers and it has to do with their mental makeup. You're only as good as your NEXT kick, my coach would say. Everything that's happened before can't matter, and that's a hard thing to master.I for one will never criticize a kicker for missing a field goal or an extra point again. Ever.

Ron Denver,CO

With your time with team, how was Dominique Foxworth perceived by his teammates and coaches. Rumors recently surfaced that Foxworth had fallen out of favor with the defensive backs corps and possibly the coaching staff.

Stefan Fatsis

  (3:48 PM)

I was with the team in 2006 and aren't up to speed on the internal politics. Foxworth is a smart, serious, talented guy. But I think he became frustrated that the Broncos never gave him a starting job in the defensive backfield and kept elevating players above him, either internally or through free agency. I can certainly see where he grew dissatisfied, and can understand where the team decided a trade (to the Falcons) would be in both his and the Broncos' interest. And that's about as politic an answer as I can give.

John (Hingham. MA)

Stefan, I loved the book. Are you surprised more teams don't handle injuries like the Patriots and Belichick do. I was shocked to hear the reports of Shawne Merriman's ACL tears before anybody needed to know that info. I certainly don't expect to hear anything like that from the Pats today unless Brady's done for the season. Why tell the media more than they need to know?

Stefan Fatsis

  (3:54 PM)

Thanks, John. I agree with you. Teams have no particular interest in sharing details about player injuries if that information will give an opponent a competitive advantage. Trust me on this one -- keeping fantasy players up to date is not high on a team's to-do list. Having said that, I think some teams can become a little militaristic in their perception of what constitutes a competitive advantage. And there are league-wide rules governing the release of injury info, which some teams (the Patriots are just one) treat with disdain. That shouldn't be OK.

Brett (LA)

What's your beef with Jay Cutler? You seem to question his leadership abilities.

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:00 PM)

You're referring to a Broncos "preview" I wrote for Deadspin a couple weeks ago. I don't have a particular beef with Cutler. Some Broncos fans have speculated that he spurned me for an interview when I was writing the book and I was upset. Not true. He wasn't especially interested in what I was doing and I wasn't especially interested in him. I wasn't wedded to writing about the team's stars; in fact, I think the most compelling figures in the book are the players most fans haven't heard of.He's a good and someday maybe great quarterback. But he was indeed aloof and dismissive of me -- not terribly curious or mature. And today I have no sense that he has become a dynamic leader, that his teammates all like and respond to him, or that he has endeared himself to fans -- all things a quarterback in a football-first town like Denver needs to do.

Chris (Ashland, Ore)

Hey Stefan, I bought my brother your book for his birthday, but haven't been able to read it myself yet. Did playing for Denver make you a Broncos fan, or did it make you an un-fan? Hard to believe you could leave with an objective viewpoint!

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:03 PM)

I am a fan of the organization, to be sure. I respect Pat Bowlen and Mike Shanahan and many of the people who work and worked for them. I am also a fan of certain players -- and there only 15 or so remaining from the summer of 2006 when I was with the team -- but that applies whether they are with the Broncos anymore or not. In my subconscious fan brain, yeah, I root for them because I got close to them. But after many years writing about sports, I'm not much of a fan in the conventional sense anymore. I think a lot of sportswriters would say that. When you see the inside of something, you view it a different way.

Kevin (Boston, MA)

Stefan,Incredible job! What surprised you the most while being with the team? For me it was reading about how so many players do not love it anymore and see it strictly as a means to an end.

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:09 PM)

Thanks, Kevin. That was one of my biggest takeaways, too, which is why it's such a strong theme in the book. The business of the NFL -- the lack of guaranteed contracts, the constant message from coaches that you have to be perfect, that they're looking at you every second to determine whether you still should have a job -- really does weigh on the players. Of course, the financiall payoff can make up for it. But far fewer players than I think fans are willing to see achieve that big payday. And more players than fans are aware never make it. The average NFL career lasts just three years -- but that's if you make the league. Lots of players get to NFL camps summer after summer and never make a roster. Remember: salaries are paid only during the 17-week season. During the summer (when I was there), the pay for everyone was $1,000, a couple hundred more when preseason games start. One kicker who was in minicamp with me, Tyler Fredrickson, a Cal grad, had made $12,000 in three years trying to make the league (and trained year round). He never did make a NFL team, so he played in the arena league this past spring -- and just started at USC film school. There is life after football.

John, Boston

Stefan, Were there players that you saw and simply thought to yourself, This guy will never make it in the NFL. Did you get the impression that some of these guys knew that as well, yet football was still their best/only chance at a good life?

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:16 PM)

Hey John. I didn't have the talent-evaluation skills to know whether a player might improve enough to make it in the NFL, but there were a few about whom you had your doubts. Some of them knew it. There was one guy there, whom I write about in the book, who was on the team as part of the NFL's now-defunct effort to develop the game in Europe. He was born in the Congo and raised in Belgium and attended a few colleges in the U.S. "One play," he said to me. That's all he wanted. One play in a game. He knew, and other players knew in their hearts that they wouldn't make it. And the coaches know, too. A dirty little secret about training camp is that, give or take a handful of positions, coaches and personnel executives have a pretty good idea of the final 53-man roster well before cuts begin. Players play, I think, because, as I write in the book, they can. Because they're incredibly gifted at this narrow skill, because it's what they've spent their lives doing and because they are as hopeful as any of us that it'll work out, that they'll hit the lottery and have a long career in the NFL.

John, Boston

Stefan, What is your wife Melissa Block think about you overtaking her as most famous family member?

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:17 PM)

As if.

John, Boston

Obviously the guy you spent the most time with, and had the most insight on, was Jason Elam. Were you surprised by his treatment by the Broncos this offseason? Did he take it in stride as part of the business of the NFL?

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:25 PM)

For fans who might not be aware, after 15 years with the Broncos, the team chose not to re-sign Elam when he became a free agent. They essentially offered him a one-year deal and he wanted to play longer than that. Atlanta gave him enough money upfront to indicate it would keep him around past this season, so he went to his hometown -- and a dome, which is no small thing for a 38-year-old kicker. Was I surprised? A little bit. That kind of longevity is rare in the NFL these days, and Elam was a fixture in Denver and a credit to the organization, a really decent person who, oh by the way, was still making 80+ percent of his field goals. But football's a business. The calculus for Mike Shanahan was that Elam's leg wasn't as strong as it was when he was younger -- he hadn't kicked off in several years -- and that he could get a younger kicker with a stronger leg who could placekick and kick off for a lot less money. (Of course, Elam's leg was responsible for four of the Broncos' seven wins last year.) Elam is a real grown-up. He had talked to me in 2006 about the inevitability of that day. He was sad to leave but felt healthy and really wanted to reach 2,000 points in his career, so leave he did. Every player understands that it's a business -- that the day will come when the NFL doesn't want him anymore.

Tom (Simi Valley, CA)

Hey Stefan- Broncos fan here, and I really enjoyed the book. As you detailed with the injury factor in the game, what do you think the players' reactions will be to Goodell wanting to expand the regular season by 1 or 2 games? I think it's insane.

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:30 PM)

To quote the sign in ex-Broncos punter Todd Sauerbrun's locker: PAY ME. From the players' perspective, I agree. Eighteen games is insane. Sixteen is already a lot, and if you make it deep in the playoffs and count a little preseason action, it's 21 or 22 games. As one Bronco said to me, two college seasons. But I think the train has left the station. The preseason this year was a bigger joke than ever, and it's been a joke for years. Players and teams just don't need four games to get ready -- they've been implementing the offense and defense since the spring, and the players are in top condition year-round. But there will be consequences. The league -- and hence the players -- will reap more from the NFL's TV contracts in exchange for the extra games. But more good players will get injured, which will cost teams. Practice squads might have to grow by a player or two. Maybe rosters generally. This will be negotiated fully with the players union, and it could get complicated. We'll see...

Tom (Simi Valley, CA)

Stefan, as a Broncos fan, I always felt that Jake Plummer got way too much blame as the QB simply because he was Jake Plummer. From your book, it seemed like his teammates liked him. Did you think they believed in him or it was more of hold your breath when he was in?

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:35 PM)

I've taken some heat from rabid Broncos fans because of my allegiance to Jake Plummer, in the book and, more recently, in a piece I wrote for Deadspin. Jake was ripped in the media and by fans from the first day he arrived in Denver. No argument: His playing style was risky and not always successful -- but it had to be that way because he wasn't a traditional stand-up pocket quarterback. Yeah, he sometimes threw into double coverage and was picked off. But he was 40-18 as a starter in Denver, took the team a game from the Super Bowl for the first time since Elway and was truly beloved by his teammates for his leadership ability. But that and $3.50 will get you a cup of coffee. Jake was benched in 2006 for a bunch of reasons not worth rehashing. I liked the guy because he was honorable, funny, caring and likeable -- and I admire him for calling it quits when he was still young, rich and in good health. Not many athletes are willing to do that.

LP (Baltimore, MD)

I loved AFSOP and Wordfreak. What will your next project be?

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:36 PM)

OK, a couple more and then I'm out of here. I'm no Simmons.Thanks, LP. I wish I knew what was next. I'm open to any and all ideas.

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:38 PM)

To follow up on that, the trick is finding something you love doing that you're willing to devote a couple of years (or more) of your life to. That doesn't happen too often. With Scrabble and kicking, I've been lucky -- terrifically fun worlds to enter with great characters and insightful stories.

rj (hartford, CT)

Has anyone ever approached you about stepping into a pre-season run with a professional rugby outfit in England, or New Zealand.Those blokes play up to 35 games a year, the kickers are expected to be among the best tacklers and playmakers on the field.... no pads, no blocking, no stopping.Where's your panic button now?

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:39 PM)

Flashing like a red light on a police cruiser.

Bill M (Denver, CO)

Me again, with a buzzer beater. Given your experience in learning to kick at an NFL level, and given the advances women athletes have made in the past couple of decades, do you believe there's a chance a woman some day might be a starting kicker in Div. 1 NCAA of the NFL?

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:45 PM)

Yes, I do. Mia Hamm banged a few 50-yarders at a Kansas City Chiefs practice a few years ago. There is, however, the issue of running downfield after kickoffs, which is intimidating enough for kickers of the other gender.

chris (hartford, ct)

What advice would you have for aspiring writers? Both in finding work and honing your craft?

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:47 PM)

Despite the perceived demise of newspapers, there are more avenues to write than ever. Call your local paper, find a receptive sports website, blog -- just keep writing, which is the only way to get better.

Stefan Fatsis

  (4:48 PM)

That'll do it for me. Thanks to everyone who took the time to stop by, and for the excellent questions. Enjoy the book -- and the NFL season.